Ettie blinked at the idea of Anne racing - and the two shared a glance, to which the lycanroc shrugged. "Anne... Less speed? More... Long-run." Ettie explained with a shrug of her own - speaking slowly as she had to make pauses to find the right words to articulate herself. Anne was big and strong, with the stamina to keep going over long distances - but it was at the sacrifice of some of the speed she might've had, if she had been smaller. Certainly more built for marathons, rather than races. Still, if Josh wanted to see Anne run around, Ettie was certainly down to do so!

But, the mention of a 'zoo' would make Ettie tilt her head. "Zoo?" She questioned, not sure what that meant. Was there something that'd make it tricky, for her to meet Josh's pack? She guessed photos would work for her to see what they were - but... "Not same..." She murmured, a hue of disappointment on her face. She wanted to meet Josh's pack, and be friends with them, too!

As the Honchkrow was tapped with the pokeball though, it seemed that the dark-type bird was not immediately keen on the new arrangements - the ball wiggling to and fro, before it had immediately taken. Ettie, too, appeared a little startled at this - glancing at the pokeball, and then Josh - her expression... Looking almost as though she was unsure, whether or not to feel a little betrayed. "... Why do that?" She asked - a faint frown on her face. Just walking up to someone and bapping them with a ball wasn't exactly how you made friends with pokemon, was it? And on top of that... She would've rather her new friend be free to come and go, like the maschiff was.

But honestly, there had been a question that she'd been mulling over this whole time - which, she'd mention soon after, questioning "... Why balls?" She wasn't going to judge how Josh ran his own pack all that critically, especially since everyone with him seemed so happy... But wouldn't they be happier to have the choice, too?

Josh Devlin

Ettie had a great grasp on the idea of Pokémon capabilities already. Josh smiled, thinking she was well on her way to earning his Gym Badge. "You're a fast learner! Just like in battle, every Pokémon has strengths and weakness on the track. Canids like Anne tend to be fantastic distance runners. Furthermore, when they put on bursts of speed, like QUICK ATTACK, they can hold those higher speeds longer. Felines, like a lot of my Pokémon, are great at cornering and high speeds, but can't maintain bursts of speed for long."

Josh at first was puzzled, but understood why Ettie would be confused if she very rarely visited town. "It's a city place where Pokémon are allowed to roam in artificial habitats. Typically it's a place where people can see really rare species of Pokémon in person. I mostly made the comparison just because of how many Pokémon I have to have as a Gym Leader." He stopped to count them all. "I want to say...there are over fifty there? I mean..." He paused at Ettie's concerns over seeing stills of his Pokémon not being the same as meeting them. "If you really want to see them all, let's make a day out of it at my Gym."

The topic of Poké Balls came up next. One thing Josh was fascinated about during his studies at Ecruteak University was the world before Poké Balls existed. Ettie was almost a living relic of that, seemingly refusing to use them and letting her entire pack roam free. "There are a lot of reasons to use Poké Balls. I could go on all day about why it's so important. The first, and most important, it it's proof of ownership. When you catch a Pokémon using a Poké Ball, it gets registered to your Trainer ID. Second, cities have a lot of rules about where you can and can't have Pokémon outside their Poké Balls. Think about how large some of them can get, and it makes lots of sense." If Ettie wanted to know more, he would keep going on about topics such as storage, metabolism, transportation, and even safety.

Ooohh... Ettie was pretty sure she'd heard of zoo stuffs before! She wasn't sure if she'd ever seen one before - partly because she wouldn't know by signs alone, given her illiteracy. But she knew how people sometimes talked about a... Safari place, or something along those lines! She'd nod in understanding as a result - Josh had a pretty big pack, from the sounds of things. Bigger than the one she was raised in, even!

And on top of such, he was willing to introduce her to them! Ettie's smile lit up with sheer delight at this - and she'd let out a couple happy little yips, as she went to give Josh a hug. "Ettie see Gym! See pack!" She couldn't wait for that day to arrive - it was going to be tons of fun!

Ettie listened closely as Josh spoke about pokeballs. Though she technically knew a little bit about them thanks to her time with Julia, she never really thought about the benefits of using them with her pack up until now. And of the reasonings Josh gave, a number of them made a lot of sense. "Ohhh.." She'd murmur thoughtfully, as she glanced to her own pack. Would they be alright, with being in a pokeball? She supposed she'd just have to run the idea of 'attaching' them to a pokeball by each one, when the time came...

But in any case, Ettie nodded - glancing to the pokeball that the honchkrow rested in. "Ettie understands, Ettie thinks." She spoke - there was a certain hue of uncertainty, cause there seemed to be a lot to pokeballs! But otherwise, she was pretty confident in her ability to comprehend some of what Josh would explain to her. "Ettie... Find pokeballs, for pack? Carry with!" She'd decide with a smile, nodding to herself as she became more confident in the idea.

Josh Devlin

Ettie's eyes lighting up was a sign of her excitement; if she had a tail, Josh figured it would be flicking back and forth faster than a Rapidash's full gallop. Anyone who cared about Pokémon on the level she did would react the same way. When he stopped to think about it, he never would have been able to take care of so many Pokémon without Gym funding being able to cover expenses. If he ever lost his job as a Gym Leader, he would have to let go of so many of his Pokémon. It put tremendous pressure on him to overperform.

"Wonderful," was Josh's one-word answer. He couldn't wait, either. This would be the first time he would be able to have his entire team, all eight squads, at play with one another. Inevitably some of them might not get along, but that was part of keeping such a large roster! "Just pick a day before the end of the year and I can make it work."

Ettie seemed to understand the benefits of using Poké Balls instead of having them follow her wild. "You'll definitely want to get them registered before going into Mauville City proper," he suggested. "Wouldn't want to see any of your pack get impounded." With that, their date would be set, and Josh would show the young girl his entire pack.

What a headache that day would be. A fun headache, but a headache nonetheless.